IFC Acquires US Rights To Knife Fight Starring Rob Lowe, Julie Bowen

With the 2012 election around the corner, this film, which provides an unmatched look what happens behind closed doors in politics, shouldn’t be missed.

IFC Films announced today the company is acquiring all U.S. rights to director Bill Guttentag’s (SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION) political drama KNIFE FIGHT. Guttentag wrote the screenplay with political consultant Chris Lehane, who served as White House advisor to President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton andserved as Vice President Al Gore’s press secretary. The film stars Rob Lowe, Jaime Chung, Julie Bowen, Richard Schiff, Saffron Burrows, Jennifer Morrison, David Harbour, Eric McCormack, and Carrie-Anne Moss. Guerrino De Luca and Catherine and Daniel Davila produced the film, with Lowe and William Green executive producing. KNIFE FIGHT had its world premiere earlier this year at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

If a political candidate is personally flawed, but stands to make a positive difference in millions of lives, would you help him win? That question looms over the life of “true believer” Paul Turner (Rob Lowe), a savvy strategist sharply maneuvering politicians out of scandal and into public office in KNIFE FIGHT. With the help of a bright young assistant (Jaime Chung) and a seedy operative (Richard Schiff), Turner spins every news cycle and a shrewd reporter (Julie Bowen) on behalf of his clients: a philandering Kentucky governor (Eric McCormack), a blackmailed California senator (David Harbour), and an idealistic doctor turned gubernatorial candidate (Carrie-Ann Moss). When the ugly side of Turner’s work begins to haunt him, he learns that even in the bloodiest of battles, sometimes you have to fight clean.

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said: ”The entire IFC Films team is thrilled to be working with Bill Guttentag, Chris Lehane and their all-starcast on the release of KNIFE FIGHT. With the 2012 election around the corner, this film, which provides an unmatched look what happens behind closed doors in politics,shouldn’t be missed.”

Commented Guttentag: “We are thrilled to be partnering with IFC Films — the scope and quality of their films is extraordinary, and we are honored to be in such company. With KNIFE FIGHT we hope to take audiences behind the curtain, where it’s only the candidate and their most trusted advisors — and show what truly happens inAmerican politics — where brutal blows are common, and the noblest ends areused to justify the darkest means.”

Added Lehane: “KNIFE FIGHT takes you into the room behind the room – the room where the press isn’t allowed; the room where the cameras are never in; the room that no one ever tweets about – but the room where the real decisions are made. In taking you into the room where the real decisions are made, the film shows that to win in politics you sometimes have to use the hardest blows to get people in office who will achieve the highest ends. This is politics not how you wish it were played, but how it really is played — a knife fight in a telephone booth.”

The deal for the film was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films with WME Independent on behalf of the filmmakers.

IFC Films is a sister label to IFC Midnight and Sundance Selects, and is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.